Acting Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria submitted to the 51st National Assembly a request for lifting the immunity of MP K. Petkov. The request is at the proposal of Sofia City Prosecutor's Office (SCPO) in connection with an ongoing investigation.
Numerous witnesses were interrogated in the case and written evidence, video recordings and more were requested and submitted. The supervising prosecutor from SCPO has assessed the evidence collected so far as sufficient to hold K. Petkov criminally liable and bring charges against him for exceeding his authority on 17 March 2022, in his capacity as a person holding a highranking level position, namely "Prime Minister", by unlawfully ordering the Head and the Deputy Head of the "Investigation and Methodological Guidance for the Investigation" department within the General Directorate of National Police (GDNP), as well as the Chief investigating police officer at GDNP, to initiate pre-trial proceedings in violation of the Criminal Procedure Code against persons over whom they have no authority. Furthermore, as a Prime Minister, K. Petkov requested the investigating police officers to interrogate him without ever notifying the competent prosecutor. It was also ordered that searches and seizures be carried out in the homes of three Bulgarian citizens – B.B., Vl.G. and S.A. without the permission of the relevant court and in the dark part of the day, as there were no grounds for urgency in the case.
In addition, K. Petkov ordered the Director and the Deputy Director of the General Directorate National Police – Ministry of Interior to order their subordinate police bodies to detain for a period of up to 24 hours the persons B.B., Vl.G. and S.A., in order to cause them harm, expressed in damaging their prestige and good name in society, and this resulted in significant harmful consequences for the state - damaging the prestige of the Executive - a crime under Art.282, para. 2, supra para. 1 of the Criminal Code.
The materials submitted to the National Assembly include the evidence collected to date, including witness interviews.
As a Member of Parliament, K. Petkov is a person with immunity and, according to Article 70 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, the initiation of criminal prosecution against him is possible only with the permission of the National Assembly or with the written consent of the Member of Parliament.